[News] Girls’ Generation Becomes Spokesperson for ‘Blade & Soul’

Tencent Games recently announced the release of the new MMORPG game, “Blade & Soul”. The Chinese company launched a beta test for the game on October 29th. Previously, it had hinted that the theme of the launch would be “youth” and that there would be a game representative, but the identity of the representative was kept secret. Later, Tencent Games revealed that the spokesperson for “Blade & Soul” was none other than Girls’ Generation.

The girls have sponsored many games in the past, including “Dungeon Fighter”, “Maplestory”, and “Mabinogi”. For “Blade & Soul”, Tencent Games has released a CF, asking, “What is the color of youth?” The answer, of course, is, “Asia’s Popular Idol Group: Girls’ Generation”. There are several shots of the girls posing for a photoshoot before Taeyeon says, “I love ‘Blade & Soul’!” At the end of the CF, Yoona greets the viewers: “Hello, hello. Everyone, I’m Yoona. I’m waiting for you in ‘Blade & Soul’.”

[News] SNSD Receives Award at Japan Jeans Conference Sponsorship

On October 2nd, Girls’ Generation earned an award at the Japan Jeans Conference Sponsorship. Fans were able to vote for who they thought were the “people who look good in jeans”. The girls were recognized in the international category along with several other nominees. Other award winners include Arashi and Ken Watanabe.

Girls’ Generation’s latest Japanese music video, “GALAXY SUPERNOVA“, features the girls’ endorsement of the fashion brand Samantha Thavasa. Appropriately, the members were sporting the jeans from the music video as they accepted their most recent award.

[Message] -GALAXY SUPERNOVA-

Thanks to you all, it reached #1 on the Oricon Daily Ranking♪All the members were really happy ^^We have again increased our wonderful memories from the events and press conferences! The members are now really looking forward to the event in November!

[News] ‘SMTOWN Live World Tour III’ Heads to Beijing on October 19th

SM Entertainment’s collaboration concert, “SMTOWN Live World Tour III”, will next be taking place in Beijing on Saturday, October 19th. The concert will be held at National Stadium, the same venue of the 2008 Olympics, and is expected to seat 100,000 people. Artists to perform at “SMTOWN Live World Tour III” in Beijing include Girls’ Generation, Kangta, BoA, TVXQ!, Super Junior, Zhang Liyin, SHINee, f(x), EXO, and TASTY. Ticketing information for the concert can be found on shuiniaoticket.com.

One week after the concert in Beijing, the tour will head to Japan for a special edition concert of “SMTOWN Live World Tour III” in Tokyo on October 26th and October 27th. The tour has thus far reached the United States, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore.

[News] SNSD to Perform at 2013 Incheon Korean Music Wave with Tiffany and Yuri as MCs

Tiffany and Yuri have been chosen to host the upcoming “2013 Incheon Korean Music Wave” concert, which will take place on September 1st from 7:00 PM KST to 9:30 PM KST at the Incheon World Cup Stadium. Tiffany and Yuri served as co-MCs for MBC’s “Show! Music Core” in the past, and they have since hosted many Hallyu concerts, including the 2009, 2010, and 2011 “Incheon Korean Music Wave” concerts.

Tickets for the event are free and available from yes24.com beginning on August 9th at 10 AM KST. Up to four tickets per person may be requested. More information on the “Incheon Korean Music Wave Concert” can be found on the event’s website.

Free tickets and information are also available at the LA Korea Tourism Organization’s Facebook page. Also, if you’re planning to go to Korea, you can apply for a booklet with things to do (please refer the second posting below the concert on the Facebook page) with two 5,000 won vouchers inside. If you are interested, they can be reached via email at la@kntoamerica.com.

“GALAXY SUPERNOVA” SingleFollowing the June release of “LOVE&GIRLS”, this is 2013′s 2nd single from Girls’ Generation. The single will feature “GALAXY SUPERNOVA” as the track song, as well as a second track, “DO THE CATWALK”. Both will be original songs for Japan. “GALAXY SUPERNOVA” will also be used with a new commercial in Japan.

2nd Japan Tour DVDStarting in February of 2013, with 20 performances in 7 cities, the second Japan tour that mobilized 200,000 people will be released. There will be four different versions: a DVD and Blu-ray version, both with a regular and limited edition. The limited editions will come with special footage content, a photobook pamphlet, and a special t-shirt.

[News] ‘SMTOWN Live World Tour III’ to Return to Tokyo for ‘Special Edition’ Concert

Capitalizing on the success of last year’s SMTOWN in Japan, SM Entertainment released the concert dates for “SMTOWN Live World Tour III in Tokyo Special Edition” earlier today. The “SMTOWN Live World Tour III Special Edition” will be held at the Tokyo Dome on October 26th at 5 PM and on October 27th at 3 PM. Doors will open two hours before the start of each concert.

A few of the artists appearing at the concert will include Girls’ Generation, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, f(x), EXO-K and EXO-M, and more.

Tickets will go on sale starting August 1st at noon from tickebo.jp for 12,800 yen (~$130.88 USD) each. Sales will close on August 18th at noon. Penlights will be given to ticket holders at the venue.

YouTube periodically releases playlists of trending videos on the site, which are decided using the video’s popularity and other data YouTube gathers from its viewers. Recently, the website uploaded a YouTube Trends playlist containing the ten most popular K-Pop music videos released after PSY’s “Gangnam Style”.

Among songs from other popular K-Pop artists, Girls’ Generation’s “I Got A Boy“, the Japanese version of “Oh!“, and “FLOWER POWER” all made it into the top ten, taking the second, seventh, and ninth spots, respectively. Earlier this year, the “I Got A Boy” music video broke the previous record for the time it took for a K-Pop video to hit 20 million views. With such accomplishments only seven months into 2013, Girls’ Generation will surely continue to impress as we move forward into the second half of the year.